William J. Seymour, the son of former slaves, was raised a Baptist. Seymour moved to Houston where he began to visit a holiness based African-American congregation led by Lucy F. Farrow. Lucy F. Farrow was a former governess in the house of Charles F. Parham. Charles Parham was the leader of the Midwestern Apostolic Faith movement.
Apostolic Faith was the original name given to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that occurred in January 1901 in the spiritually rich environment of his Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. This movement would later be recognized as Pentecostalism. Seymour, quite unknowingly, jumped into a literal stream of events of which he would not actually become totally aware until the experience of Spirit infused eruption of the Azusa Street Revival. Black, brown and white Christian worshipers gathered (a miracle in its own right, given the time and situation) at Azusa Street and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Led by Seymour, they spoke in strange tongues and set off a missional-based Pentecostal revival that lasted for more than three years. This Pentecostal revival has had – and still has – a profound effect upon American Christianity. American Christianity cannot even be seriously discussed if Pentecostalism is not a part of the conversation. This is amazing, given the less than cold reception offered to almost all of the participants of the Azusa Street Revival by members and leaders of their home churches and denominations.
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